When I went to link up this morning for the Hodgepodge we had the news from Joyce that her dear Mama passed away earlier this week. Our hearts and prayers are with you, Joyce, and with your whole family.
1. How do you feel about the transition from lazy summer days to a busier fall routine?
I’ve always loved the transition from summer to fall. Even the years I was in school, I welcomed with excitement going back. These days I enjoy the fact that Ladies Bible studies will start up again and there will be more order in our days. I enjoy Fall weather and Fall events like cider fest and the corn maze.
2. Your favorite cookie?
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I like homemade Loaded Chocolate Chip Cookies with oatmeal, walnuts, almonds, and sometimes coconut!
I use the toll house recipe and load them up with extras.
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3. What’s something you’ve learned from a culture different than your own?
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I grew up in Southern California just outside East Los Angeles and the neighborhoods we lived in were multi cultural with Mexicans, Jews, Russians, Armenians, Japanese, Scots, and Heinz 57 Americans. I included Scots, although I only first heard of anyone who was Scottish in 5th grade when Karen’s parents moved to Montebello and she was introduced as a new student in our class. I was enthralled with her from the start and she taught me a few Scottish dance moves that we shared with the class for show and tell. I think we sang a song, too, The Bonnie Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomand.
Apart from the great food we enjoyed in the homes of my friends from these cultures, I learned about the Jewish custom of coming of age.
A bar mitzvah and a bat mitzvah are both Jewish coming-of-age milestones. A bar mitzvah (“son of commandment’) marks the religious maturity of a boy at the age 13, while a bat mitzvah (daughter of the commandment) marks the religious maturity of a girl, traditionally at age 12.
I was invited to one of my Jewish friends Bat Mitzvah and I was blown away by the lavishness of the celebration!
These are my multi-cultural Cheer friends from my high school at a Russian dinner at my house before a football game. (My Scottish friend from 5th grade, Karen, is the one with the rollers in her hair). We would have a meal at a different Cheer members home before Varsity games. They are eating borsch. That was just one of the food items my mother prepared for them. I think I see piroshky on the table, also. After the meal we would all get our cheer clothes on and head to the game for a night where we would work off every calorie we ate at dinner!
This is one of my best buddies from school days, Nanc. I spent a lot of time in her home where I learned how to make guacamole and we learned every popular Leslie Gore song by heart. Her parents brought me along to Mexican restaurants with them and to the downtown wholesale fashion district for shopping. Growing up, my family did not eat in restaurants so that was an eye opening experience all its own. Her dad drove a Volkswagon Square back and we spent many miles in that little car. One summer when she got back from visiting her uncle who was a jeweler in Mexico City she gifted me the ring below that he made for me.
While we were living in Camarillo for a short time Nanc and I reconnected online and we met up a couple of times for meals and to catch up on life. The photo above is of one of our meet ups. I hadn’t seen her for 40 years! There is a long story about that…
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4. Food critic, film critic, book critic, art critic…which hat would you most like to wear? Tell us why.
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Of these choices I’d choose the Food Critic hat because I love to travel and I love to try new restaurants and eat good food. I’d have a hard time writing bad critiques, though. I’ll just choose to be a traveler and enjoy trying new food in different places and being satisfied.
I’m not a film buff, or the reader of a variety of genres, and I’m definitely not artsy.
5. What’s a small, random thing from your childhood that you still remember clearly?
This will give you a little insight into my character. I remember hiding from my mother and father on Saturday mornings because I did not want to go to Russian School. When they found me, I would stomp my feet and say, “I’m an American!”. Well that didn’t work. In my latter years I was thankful to have learned the Russian alphabet and to learn to read and write in Russian.
To say “I am American” in Russian, use Я американец (if you are male) or Я американка (if you are female). If you want to say “I am from America” or “from the USA,” you can say Я из Америки or Я из США.
Я американка, Yah Amereekanka, I am American.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
These questions pulled up a lot of memories from my past.
I started another thrift store puzzle and it’s a tough one.
I’m making slow but good progress.
Josh and Laura surprised me with this puzzle in the mail. They chose this one because our VBS theme this year was centered around Psalm 23. I’m looking forward to starting it soon. Thank you, Laura and Josh for your thoughtfulness!
On Thursday Addy and JJ were over in the afternoon so we made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with walnuts. They are at an age where all I have to do is watch while they mix and load the cookie sheets. They are experienced in the kitchen. We threw caution to the wind and enjoyed a little cookie dough, too.
The big news is that the skies were not smoky on Thursday because of our rain. That meant that soccer games were not cancelled and we could finally watch Addy and JJ play soccer. There games were on adjoining fields. It was a cool evening on the soccer fields.
The skies continue to be glorious and the air is good to breath. We are over the top grateful. It is exhilarating to say the least to have our clear skies again.
My sisters and I used to make these simple cookies when we were young and try to sell them in our neighborhood.
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened.
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten.
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-3/4 Cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
Method:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In bowl of mixer, cream butter and 1-1/2 cups sugar thoroughly, then add eggs and incorporate thoroughly, mix in the vanilla.
Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.
Add dry ingredients into butter mixture and mix well.
Chill dough, and chill 2 large ungreased cookie sheets for about 10-15 minutes in the fridge.
Meanwhile, mix 3 tablespoons sugar, and 3 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl.
Roll dough into small balls about 1 inch in diameter and drop into sugar-cinnamon mixture.
Coat by gently rolling balls of dough in the sugar/cinnamon mixture.
Place on chilled ungreased cookie sheet, and bake 10 minutes – 20 minutes. This varies due to the pan you choose and whether you cook one sheet at a time.
Remove from pan after they cool slightly.
Yield approx. 4 dozen.
I overloaded my cookie sheets and put two pans in the oven at the same time so it took a full 20 minutes for them to bake. Make sure to leave a good amount of space between the balls of dough.
These kitchen helpers took over and whew after a few hours things got done.
Addy has mastered the art of kneading. She says it’s because she helps her mom make tortillas often.
After chopping nuts, JJ decided it was more fun to wash the dishes. He said it is fun to wash dishes the ‘old fashioned way’.
We had to wait for a couple hours for this dough ball to double in size. In the meantime we also managed to get one tray of Russian Tea Cookies done. I did not have a resident photo taker available and sticky hands did not help for me to take photos. My helpers went home for lunch and we went out for Chinese giving the dough time to rise.
When we got home from lunch the dough was ready. The finished product will be delicious but both loaves cracked. I think I rolled the dough too thin before rolling it up and baking it with the nut filling.
I need to make these more than once a year so I can master the method.
Today is Christmas Eve Day. The main celebrations start tonight into tomorrow. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas.
Here is my first Fall puzzle and it was a doozey! I bought it at Union Gospel Mission Thrift store in Spokane for $5.
I’ve been working on it for a couple weeks.
Hooray! No missing pieces. I finished this up on Monday before JJ arrived for his afternoon at Baba and Gramps.
JJ lost his first tooth on Monday morning so we had to document that! It’s a little harder to bite into his snacks. This boy loves snacks.
Out for a trek to the mailbox with Gramps.
G.I. Joe with Gramps. The same G.I. Joe show his dad and uncle watched when they were boys. I remembered and mentioned to JJ that I thought his dad or uncle had their old G.I. Joe sleeping bag. JJ wanted me to call Uncle Joshie to see if he still had it. I said I would text instead. Then JJ added that if he still had it he could maybe bring it at Thanksgiving. Later that evening we got this photo with Uncle Joshie’s answer.
Yes! He will bring it at Thanksgiving!
Before we knew it, Jamie and Addy got back from Irish Dance to collect JJ. Addy always wants a rundown of all the snacks JJ had while she was at Dance.
Thankful in this season of thankfulness for the opportunity to spend time with our grandchildren and that we live in the same town.
Caramel Pecan Cookies These might seem a little involved to make, but they are worth it.
Basic Butter Cookies for Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.
Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a standing mixer (preferably fitted with paddle attachment) or 6 minutes with a hand held mixer.
Beat in egg and vanilla.
Reduce speed to low, then add flour mixture and mix until just combined.
Grease a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan, then line with foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on both ends, and grease foil.
Press dough evenly onto bottom of baking pan, using plastic wrap on top to prevent dough from sticking to your fingers.
Chill until firm, about 20 minutes.
While crust chills, put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Bake crust until golden brown, about 30 minutes.
Cool in pan on a rack 20 minutes. (Leave oven on.)
Caramel pecan topping:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into bits
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups pecans (1/2 pound), toasted, cooled, and coarsely chopped
To make topping while crust cools:
Cook sugar in a 2 1/2 to 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, undisturbed, until it begins to melt.
Continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a fork, until sugar is melted to a deep golden caramel. Tilt pan and carefully pour in cream (caramel will harden and steam vigorously).
Cook over moderately low heat, stirring, until caramel is dissolved.
Remove from heat and stir in butter, vanilla, salt, and pecans.
Immediately spread topping over cooled crust and bake until bubbling, about 20 minutes.
Cool completely in pan on rack, about 2 hours.
Run a heavy knife under hot water, then wipe dry and cut confection into 2-inch triangles, diamonds, or squares.
Caramel pecan cookies keep, layered between sheets of waxed paper or parchment, in an airtight container at room temperature 1 week.
Our grands came over for a few hours on Monday afternoon. We had some fun activities planned. First off, they both were ‘hungry’ so we sliced some of their mom’s homemade sourdough bread and they enjoyed it with some honey on top. They also enjoyed some hot chocolate with marshmallows in their special Christmas mugs.
Then it was time for the dollar store aprons and cookie baking. I had to take photos fast because JJ was already unwrapping the butter.
We got everything mixed in with their help leveling the sugar and flour with very minimum spillage. Then it was time to roll the dough into balls and lay them on the parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
Poking a hole in each round with the end of a wooden spoon was fun.
Ready to go into the oven.
Once they were out with lots of warning not to touch the hot cookie sheet we carefully helped each other put some melted semi sweet chocolate into each hole.
We didn’t taste test till after their mom came back from some alone time and we enjoyed dinner together. We all agreed this was a good recipe. I’ll add the link to Charlotte’s German Hazelnut Cookies here. We did not have hazelnuts so we substituted pecans in this recipe.
After cookie baking, Addy and JJ were given the task to set up a Christmas village with these pop up cards we have received every year from my college roommate and her husband. I told the Grands to be extra careful with them since they are paper and won’t last forever. Over thirty of these pop up cards have survived over the years.
On the day the kids were setting up the village this year’s card arrived in the mail.
A cuckoo clock. We had a fun discussion about Cuckoo birds with Addy and JJ.
The vintage angels were my mother-in-law’s. They are sweet but when I think of angels and the verses in the Bible that speak of angels, I never think sweet as a description. They startled and caused fear and were powerful and not easily described. I prefer my wooden angel on the left.
The three mugs in the back are Josh, Dan and Katie’s mugs. The two in the front I purchased for Addy and JJ.
Today we will pick up our food items for our Christmas Eve and Christmas day meals. Tomorrow our daughter and hubby arrive from the west side of our state and celebrations will continue. Hope all is merry and bright in your corner of the world.
1. Did you do more talking or more listening yesterday? Was it by choice or by necessity?
I’m happy to say that I did more listening than talking yesterday. Our grands were here in the afternoon for a few hours and it was fun listening to their banter. JJ had several stories to give us the details on. He talked about his dad’s work on the hot water tank, in detail. Addy filled in anything he missed. He chuckled while calling me, Baa bush Kah, in three separate syllables instead of Baba. Addy read out the instructions on the cookie recipe we made. During dinner together JJ had many things to share. I made the comment that he was quite the conversationalist!
2. Are you a tea drinker? Hot, cold, or both? Flavored? What do you like in your tea? Do you make Christmas tea this time of year? What time of day do you like to sip your tea?
I grew up in a tea drinking household where tea was served regularly and we enjoyed our tea with a sweet cherry syrup or lemon syrup that our mom made and canned in quantity.
At the church we grew up in we’d have meals where tea was served. My friends and I enjoyed making bridges of sugar cubes across the top of our tea glasses before we poured the hot water in. We broke the sugar bridge with the hot water. No tea bags, loose tea steeped. The glasses were hot so the tea was poured into the bowl and we drank the tea from the bowl. At our Russian wedding receptions, Чай не сладкий (the tea is not sweet) ‘Chai nye slatki’ was a chant that was made while gently tapping our tea glasses with a spoon so the newly married couple could stand and give each other a kiss to sweeten our tea.
I think we mostly had tea in the afternoon or evening.
After I was married I transitioned to coffee and enjoyed tea as an event rather than daily consumption. When I drink tea I enjoy Earl Grey or English Breakfast Tea. No green tea for me. I do not make Christmas tea but I do remember having some in the past.
3. What’s an activity you won’t try, an event you won’t attend, or an athletic challenge you won’t take part in not even for ‘all the tea in China’?
I will not try bungee jumping. I will not attend a Monster Trucks Show. I will not take part in a marathon.
4. What’s something most people seem to love but is not ‘your cup of tea‘?
Owning pets.
5. How does your family celebrate New Year’s Eve?
Hmmm. It has changed over the years and we do not have any set traditions for this eve. Lately we are in bed by 9pm and will hear the fireworks go off at midnight. I used to watch at least one of the countdowns (New York) that were 3 hours ahead of us. Here in Colville the Fourth of July is not a good time to shoot off fireworks because of the fire danger so many folks save their fireworks for New Year’s Eve.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
I’m still relishing our Children’s Christmas Musical that was on this past Sunday and this song that the Children sang.
You can have my room, Jesus. You’re always welcome here, Jesus. I won’t turn you away to a cattle stall. You can have my room, Jesus. You can have it all. Come in, Come in, Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. You can have it all.
A Very Merry Christmas to Jo and all of my Wednesday Hodgepodge Friends!
These cookies started with a basic Butter Cookie Dough that could create a variety of cookies.
Ingredients:
1-3/4 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons soft butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Method:
In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth but not fluffy.
Beat in egg.
Add flour and mix until incorporated, using hands if needed.
Chill dough for one hour.
On floured parchment, roll half the dough into a rough rectangle about 10 x 8 inches.
Repeat with remaining half of dough.
Slide rectangles on parchment to baking sheet.
Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile mix 3 tablespoons soft butter, 1/2 cup chopped pecans, and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon in small bowl.
Spread half of this mixture over one of the rectangles of refrigerated dough and distribute well.
With long side facing you, use parchment paper to help you roll into log.
Repeat for the second rectangle adding the rest of the filling.
Chill until firm.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut logs into 1/4 inch slices.
Place on parchment-lined baking sheets.
Bake until lightly browned, 12-17 minutes.
Let cool on wire racks.
Makes 5-6 dozen cookies.
You can freeze one of the logs for future use if you don’t need this many cookies at once. Just wrap them in parchment and put the log into a freezer safe zip loc bag until ready to bake.
These cookies are soft and cake like. You could choose different colored sprinkles for any holiday you might be celebrating. They would make a real nice Christmas cookie with red and green sprinkles. They are good without frosting, too.
Ingredients:
1/2 lb. butter
2 c. sugar
15 oz. or 1lb. Ricotta Cheese
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Zest of one orange
4 1/2 c. flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream butter.
Add sugar and continue creaming.
Add eggs and Ricotta and vanilla and orange zest; beat well.
Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda, salt.
Add to batter and mix well.
Drop the dough by tablespoon on ungreased baking sheet. (use a cookie dough scoop for easy scooping and dropping of dough) (dough will be very sticky)
Bake in a 350 degree oven about 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
Cool.
Yields 6 dozen cookies.
FROSTING:
2 c. confectionery sugar
1/4 c. butter
3 tbsp. fresh orange juice (use the orange that was zested)
Candy Sprinkles
Combine the first three ingredients and mix well.
Frost top of cookies then dust with sprinkles.
This amount of frosting was enough for about 4 dozen cookies.
Double the frosting recipe if you plan to frost all the cookies.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 